Mirror, from the Novelties series (N228, Type 5) issued by Kinney Bros. 1889

This small chromolithograph of a woman looking in a mirror was created by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company in the United States, sometime in the late nineteenth century. Part of a series of novelty cards included in cigarette packs, this image connects to the social history of advertising. Tobacco companies understood how to use attractive imagery to promote their products. The woman is presented as a vision of ideal beauty, with flowing hair and delicate features. The mirror acts as a framing device, heightening the sense of intimacy. It invites the viewer to identify with the woman and aspire to her elevated social status. But the image also highlights the politics of representation: who gets to be seen, and how? The image naturalizes a certain ideal of white femininity while excluding other forms of beauty. To explore these dynamics further, one might consult archives of advertising ephemera, as well as studies of consumer culture and gender in the late 19th century. These resources remind us that art always exists within a specific social and institutional context.